Research showed that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people feel unsupported by big business, especially the insurance industry. Despite communicating with the LGBT consumer for years, Allstate needed to do something powerful and personal to disarm the target. During the historic progress made over the past few years to advance LGBT rights in the US, it was still a hesitant, uncertain process.

Allstate wanted to give consumers a platform to express their feelings by letting people share their stories to give others the courage to keep fighting for their rights. Allstate set up shop at pride festivals across California with a red carpet and velvet ropes that led to a paparazzi wall. Here, a large banner reading “Equality is _____” invited LGBT people and their friends to fill in the blank with their written message of equality. People excitedly lined up to have themselves and their definitions of equality photographed. Their messages were sometimes funny, often moving, and always personal.

Additionally, OOH executions put LGBT people and their visions of equality on news kiosks and bus shelters, showing the wider world that Allstate was committed to this community. Online, people could comment or “like” the content, and soon, “Equality is_____” became Allstate’s de facto public stance on LGBT rights. Rather than Allstate saying they supported this community, thousands of people were doing it for them. As a result, the number of LGBT Californians agreeing that Allstate is very or extremely committed to the LGBT community rose 11 percentage points.